Fast Facts: Why China? 1. Chinese tourists represent the largest, highest spending visitor market

ever, spending four times more than average tourists2. The Chinese market is now ranked in the top 10 for UK inbound visitors, and

Chinese visitor numbers to Edinburgh increased 45% YOY in 20153. Chinese visitor spend in Edinburgh is set to double by 2020 & could

overtake the US market by 20254. 75% of Chinese tourists rely on Weibo and WeChat for their travel

preparations5. Competition is fierce and being part of Edinburgh’s joint strategic approach

will give you a competitive edge in this challenging new market….

Edinburgh’s f i rst-ever Chinese Social Media Campaign

OUR AIM: to create a compelling, successful presence for Edinburgh on key Chinese social media platforms such as Weibo and WeChat and deliver a 12 month collaborative marketing campaign to promote the city and participating businesses; creating opportunities to work together and drive direct business benefits from the fast-growing Chinese FIT market.TARGETS:• Acquire 50,000 fol lowers to Edinburgh’s Chinese social media channels. • Achieve 50m impressions of year-round destination content. • Provide individual business partners with a platform to launch,

test and develop Chinese marketing content through WeChat and Weibo.

• Establ ish an advisory group of China Ready members to oversee the project and support direct learning and digital skills development within their own business.

• Share best practice and present detailed end-of-project findings and advice.

Working closely with our members over the last twelve months, ETAG has been working hard to inspire, inform and support Edinburgh’s tourism sector to engage with the Chinese visitor market. We passionately believe that Edinburgh must become a “first choice, must see, China friendly” destination for Chinese visitors in order to fully benefit from the growth of the world’s largest inbound visitor market.Our next step is to develop Edinburgh’s social media presence in China on hugely-influential social media sites. We have appointed Edinburgh’s first ever Chinese Social Media Co-ordinator based at Marketing Edinburgh and developed the Edinburgh Chinese Social Media Campaign.We are now seeking funding partners to support the Campaign and enable us to make a successful bid to the VisitScotland Growth Fund, which will potentially secure a further £40,000 of additional campaign spend. Partnership Packages offer businesses great value for money, providing a range of networking and training support, alongside the ability to promote your business directly to the Chinese FIT market. We have limited Partnership Packages available and a tight timetable for the VisitScotland Growth Fund application process. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to develop your digital marketing activities in this important new market by contacting us as soon as possible. The deadline for confirming participation is Monday 26th September.

For further details:Martin Reynolds, ETAG China-Ready Project Coordinator

martin@mrculturesport.com | +44 7789 772619

Campaign Activ ity The Edinburgh Chinese Social Media Campaign is a co-funded collaboration. Together, we will work with: • A dedicated ful l-t ime Chinese social media coordinator to establish

Edinburgh’s social media profiles in China, and manage and implement content and campaign activity;

• Online travel agents and media sites (such as Weibo, CTrip and WeChat) to promote and grow our presence and achieve ambitious reach and subscription targets;

• Private sector industry partners to support their Chinese marketing efforts through collaboration and promote their products, promotions and services;

• A special ist Chinese Marketing Agency to support our social media strategy and negotiate best value and ROI as part of media planning;

• Exist ing China social media users in Edinburgh/Scotland (eg current visitors or local Chinese student ambassadors) and with appropriate brands active in China (ie whisky, textiles etc);

• National and regional tourism and development partners (Marketing Edinburgh, VisitScotland, VisitBritain, Scottish Government, SDI, industry etc) to source and re-purpose content – ensuring consistency of messaging and cost effective delivery;

• Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and Festivals Edinburgh to integrate the Social Media Campaign with the successful #blogmanay platform.

Our campaign content will cover: • Edinburgh as a year-round destinat ion,

focusing on key assets that appeal to the Chinese market (eg architecture, history, shopping, whisky, golf, cultural events, film/TV locations, friendly neighbourhoods) at key times for Chinese visitors (Freshers’ week, Golden Week, Chinese New Year, Graduation);

• Special features and targeted promotions on the products and services of campaign partners;

• Edinburgh as an accessible travel destinat ion, through promotion of one-stop fares to Edinburgh;

• Edinburgh as an accessible travel destination from London, to increase propensity to include Edinburgh/Scotland on tr ips to England.

Partnership Benefits Packages

Open Access

Partner Premium Partner

Per month investment (minimum 12 months) £0 £150 £400 Total investment for one year project £0 £1,800 £4,800 OVERVIEW Amplify your Chinese marketing activity Participation in exclusive one-year £100,000 campaign to advertise directly in market as part of social media drive targeting Chinese inbound tourists to Edinburgh

• •

Benefit from economies of scale For between £2,000-£5,000, participate and directly influence a much larger joint campaign than you could cost-effectively achieve as an individual business

• •

For China-Curious and China-Ready businesses, to increase awareness and reach pre-arrival Your investment supports the opportunity to work with a select group of like-minded pro-active businesses on a one-year Chinese social media trial, publishing and evaluating your in-market content and digital marketing activity as part of a jointly-agreed editorial and paid media plan

• •

For China-Focused and China-Ready businesses, to promote and advertise directly to Chinese inbound customers In addition to the above, your investment secures additional mentions, features, brand and logo positioning, exposure and reach as part of a commercially upweighted, jointly-agreed editorial and paid media plan.

•

Membership of steering group Meeting regularly to oversee campaign management, media plan, content coordination and regular reporting

•

Membership of advisory group Meeting quarterly to support development of media plan, content coordination and regular reporting

• •

Category Exclusivity for your business You will be the only business in your sector in the Premium Partner category, securing guaranteed greater exposure than your competitors through official Edinburgh social media channels and paid digital activity in China.

•

Open

Access Partner Premium

Partner

DETAILED BENEFITS ANALYSIS EDITORIAL CONTENT Reference to your business in general destination promotion content and articles (at editorial discretion) • • •

Attendance at ETAG Business Breakfast (post-channel launch) for briefing on Edinburgh’s Chinese Social Media channels and how to submit editorial content for consideration

• • •

Five guaranteed mentions and one guaranteed feature in editorial content across Weibo and WeChat1 across the annual campaign period

• •

Upweight of five additional guaranteed mentions and two additional guaranteed features in editorial content across Weibo and WeChat across the annual campaign period

•

Access to Chinese Social Media Coordinator for integrated content planning and coordination at bi-monthly group meetings

• •

One-to-one bi-monthly meetings with Chinese Social Media Coordinator for integrated content planning and coordination specific to your business

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PAID PROMOTION 1 off-peak2 promotion run on verified Weibo platform over 1 month in the 12 month period, with agreed conversion mechanic (eg redemption instore using WeChat QR codes)

• •

In addition to the above, 1 peak promotion run exclusively on verified Weibo platform over 1 month in the 12 month period, with agreed conversion mechanic (eg redemption instore using WeChat QR codes)

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Logo presence (and hyperlink to Chinese content on your website, where available) on digital portal creative and the verified Weibo platform

•

STRATEGY, TRAINING AND MANAGEMENT Membership of steering group to oversee campaign management, content coordination and regular reporting

• •

Bespoke training via a co-designed Chinese social media workshop for selected members of your staff

• •

EXCLUSIVITY Guaranteed to be the only upweighted premium partner advertiser in your sector

•

1 Additional digital platforms and channels (eg CTrip) to be determined as part of steering group meeting with appointed agency and media planner 2 Peak times are the key time for Chinese visitors to Edinburgh, namely Chinese New Year, Golden Week, Fresher’s Week, Graduation Week, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and August.

The Small PrintThe opportunity to participate in the Edinburgh Chinese Social Media Campaign as a Partner or Premium Partner is subject to the following: • The delivery of the campaign is subject to ETAG successfully securing a VisitScotland Growth

Fund bid and therefore Partners are asked to commit on a “no win, no fee” basis and a formal, legally binding contract will only be put in place if the Bid is successful;

• The delivery of the campaign is subject to ETAG successfully securing the requisite level of commercial investment as per the VisitScotland Growth Fund criteria;

• The funding commitment is for a 12 month period;• Payment will be split into 4 installments over the 12 month period;• Premium Partner exclusivity is subject to negotiation with interested businesses and mutual

agreement;• ETAG reserves the right to select the Partners, based on a strong fit with campaign.Partners must confirm their funding commitment to the Campaign in writing by no later than 12pm on Monday 26th September 2016. Full Terms and Conditions are available on request and will be included in the contract documentation.